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Tag Archives: inspiration

Yes, I have finally made another return to this blog after a long time. This is that kind of a topic that can inspire a return, even though I am not sure how long this stay will be. A lot of things have happened in between, during those journeys from home to the city and back, and some fine moments during the time of work. I am still not sure if they would go on to become another post, but this topic is going to get a blog post right now, as I get to those interesting and impressive characters in movies!

Ammini (Aranyakam: 1988): Here, I think about the year – and we had a female protagonist who dares to think differently and lives in her world, close to nature and away from the hypocritic world that surrounded her. Saleema plays this role to such perfection which might have been easier during this century, but during those times? I have found more inspiration from this character rather than any other, and during a lot of situations in the movie, I found the protagonist as a reflection of myself.

Harikrishnan (North 24 Kaatham: 2013): Fahadh Faasil plays the geek who works at an IT firm and has OCD which makes him highly unpopular with his colleagues. During a journey during a harthal day, with his three newly found friends, he will rediscover himself, and along with friendship, he will also find love. The movie is a lot fun and very much thought-provoking, as Fahadh makes Harikrishnan and his journey a really memorable one. This was one of the best movies of that fine year which had so many big names!

Solomon (Solomon Kane: 2009): James Purefoy is Solomon Kane in this adventure which has him running away from the Devil’s Reaper to save his soul which is claimed by the dark side for the atrocities committed by him. In a journey for atonement, Solomon Kane will realize that saving his soul is not really about going through a sad and depressing path towards nothing, but to stay on and fight for those who believe in him. In this dark adventure set in the seventeenth century, James Purefoy makes us feel the depths of this character.

Sudheendran (Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam: 2015): The protagonist here goes through his limitations and understands that it is up-to him to make the best use of his talents rather than become someone else as the society wants him to. Living through his stammering problem and bothered about what people have been thinking about, his life seemed to be going to be reaching nowhere, but that was to change later in his world. This is surely one big inspirational movie here.

Charlie (Charlie: 2015): This character from the 2015 movie Charlie is a traveler, and a man who wishes to leave a positive impact on everyone whom he meets on the way. He is the djinn for many people as a lot of them never really meet him again, but he creates that kind of an impact on their lives that he is remembered for long. His never-ending journeys and all the positive side that he leaves behind in the lives of the strangers makes sure that the protagonist, Tessa begins another journey in search of this strange and mysterious character.

Philipose (Lord Livingstone 7000 Kandi: 2015): Even though the movie might not have become that big a thing as it was expected to be, it was a fine attempt with a message to save the environment. As the protagonist, Philipose John Varkey assembles a group of strangers to save the forest and the people inside it, the same shall provide people with thoughts on what they can do for a similar purpose no matter how small their contributions might be; for Earth is no private property of any greedy human being.

***The images used in this blog post are from the official Facebook Pages of North 24 Kaatham and Charlie.

There are lots of sportspersons who have created some great impact on me. I have been a fan of The Undertaker when I was a child, and I used to be a big fan of Saurav Ganguly later. Well, I no longer use the word fan because I have never been that kind of a fan that hates everyone who doesn’t like his or her favourite celebrities. I have been a person who admired these people who have had great impact on me. But there has been one person whom I really needed to write about.

I am talking about that person who is considered to be the greatest tennis player of all-time, and I never had any doubt about that. As you might have guessed the name of that person by now, this blog post is about Roger Federer. If you look at the records, you will know there are so much of achievements which he got inside his pockets. He has broken many records and has created his own including that of the most Grand Slams won and the most time spent as the world number one.

Well, I believe that you know most of it, and so, this post is going to about the impact that he has made on me rather than the impact which he has made on the tennis world. Even though the impact in tennis can be considered bigger, it is not that much behind in my case either. I have always believed in Roger Federer, and whether he wins or not, he has been the one who made the most impact on me, a lot more than any other sportsperson, and I am extremely glad about that.

I have always compared Federer to a certain kind of tennis poetry, with the way in which he has been playing, not making those terrible sounds or trying so hard. He just moves around seemingly without any trouble, and there is no overdose of emotions like some other players who are rather too aggressive with showing off after each shot. The biggest impact that his style has had on me is to control the emotions. It has helped me to take a game, whether it is badminton, cricket or football as a game in its own spirit.

Another impact that he has had is on my way of playing badminton. Yes, badminton is not tennis and also vice versa. I have never played tennis, but I have played a lot of badminton. So, I have tried to use his style of play in badminton, and that backhand has worked for me as a surprise weapon; the tennis forehand also works! Well, I have been accused of playing badminton like tennis, but there is this impact that Roger Federer has made, and I could never try not to do that.

He has won awards for sportsmanship, and has been the fan favourite for so long, and there is no surprise about it. I have never really stopped believing in Federer; I have always known that he will be the impact-maker no matter how the world changes. He also founded the Roger Federer Foundation to help the children in need. He has been a person known for his philanthropy too, as he has also made an impact outside the court. If you ask me about tennis, there is Roger Federer and then there is everyone else.

In the last few years, I have realized that I only liked Federer better and his performance never really mattered. It was all about the way in which he played and how he has been on the court as well as outside the court that has made such a huge impact on me. I have always been interested in Federer for being the person that he has been. It is never going to change, no matter what comes around in the upcoming years. He had that impact on me and it is forever, without conditions; it is the impact of tennis poetry on court and a great human being outside it.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of Roger Federer.

There are dark times, which lead to the existence of vigilantes, and the same is actually justified in the presence of evil, and the lack of ability from the side of the good side, or rather the law to stop them. Fiction has got Batman, Hellby, Catwoman, Green Arrow, The Punisher, Green Hornet, Ghost Rider, Batgirl, and all those can provide the person who can fill that space. It is the existence of evil and the absence of law and order that inspires the vigilantes. It is where the world need The Joker, The Riddler, Poison Ivy and others for the existence of Batman.

Considering this vigilante situation and the stories, I would say the same about my muse. There is no beautiful lady for my muse or even a wonderful destination, and there are not many positive things that inspire me to write regularly, and on the contrary, it is the absence of the same which you can see, and you know that I had to fill that void. But to this void, negativity has been flowing in, and to bring the balance, I had to write better, come up with a lot more and I also had to do it quicker.

The Green Arrow choice will be nice for a vigilante with a muse!

So, in the absence of that usual muse, I had to get inspired to write from this negativity which spread from this void to create the dark clouds. So, this negativity is my muse. It will define me like The Joker has defined The Dark Knight, and it is in many case, a necessity. It is not the presence of a positive thing, but the presence of a negative thing which has a certain effect which can be converted into the positive. It makes one feel the need to bring the opposition in one way or the other.

I have had this negativity reinforced on me by my relatives. It has been a regular practice, and so I shall credit them with providing this muse for me. So, just like Batman needed his villains, I guess that I need these people at least in the blogging world; but can’t say the same related to the life outside. Maybe I should call them Uncle Muse and Aunt Muse, for their contributions to my writings. Their vain talks about their sons and daughters having potato chips made of gold have worked here.

There are those talks about the significance of their children marrying a richer person, and you know how significant it is to check that when falling in love – in the end, they just need that achievement in money, even if not in the official salary count. The attempts have been made to remind how pathetic I am and that is depressing, but when I am in front of this laptop, that is an inspiration. I have written a number of blog posts about what I have heard from them, if you have been following this blog for some time.

Yes, such people are needed, but it is the increasing number of such people which is taking things a little bit out of control. Think about Batman taking on two Jokers; it is not that good. But I will survive, because I have the other side of the coin, the side with the image of the muse. The other side which they show, the side of the fool’s gold, the great illusion of the vault of plenty, will fade on this day or the other. On that day, they will realize that it is not all about being rich; until that day, I will be the vigilante, and keep them in the muse list.

Batman surely had all that he needed to be a vigilante!

So, the one realization that I have come up with which is also the conclusion, is that they are my muse, and I am their vigilante – it is a situation worth a long tale. But whether it is an evil empire that they are building or a fake impression of an utopia, I am not buying that. I am even hoping to develop my own superpowers. I would still try not to have the power to read minds, because if I ever read what was inside such vain people, I might have to give up my soul to the darkness; but I intend to keep it, at least for now.

I am sure that most of the people who visited Central Kerala might have visited Munnar, the beautiful hill station which often serves as the Lake District type of inspiration for us. I have made a number of visits to the place with the 2012 journey being the last one. The truth is that you never really get tired of visiting Munnar, which is why I have kept visiting the place throughout my life, and another possible visit to come later some time. Among the hill stations which I visited, Munnar will have the big advantage in my mind. Last time we stayed at Ayur County Chancellor Resorts and it was a nice place to stay with a peaceful atmosphere and beauty of nature all around – the options were also many.

Munnar also has many locations which can be visited during the journey, and as you would have guessed, the traveling part itself is fun and refreshing. Having its name from Mudhirapuzha, Nallathanni and Kundaly rivers, Munnar’s tea plantations are sure to provide the best view along with its eternally green world. Yes, you will love to have tea at Munnar. Here are ten photos which I had taken during my last visit to Munnar; all of them were taken on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310. I hope these photos will remind you to visit Munnar again, or make you interested in arriving in Kerala and get to Munnar!

There are not many movies which inspires like Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam. Yes, Malayalam movies have had motivation flicks which have worked, but this one has managed to come up with a life of its own, and the same has provided it a status high above Punyalan Agarbathis as far as the connectivity for the common man is concerned. The other inspirational movie, My God just worked less for the viewers, and none of the others like Rani Padmini and Mili were kept this simple, and the strength of its simplicity will surely amaze you. It is a quality that the movie can cherish.

Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam is not the kind of inspirational movie which is made for the kind of people who enjoy individuality by traveling all around the world, finding love of lust and changing himself in the end like a psycho who is against the society – here, it is a lot about being part of the society as an individual. As it continues to run in a number of theatres and will make a comeback to other screens due to the quality of its idea and content, lets look at some of the reasons why this one works so well, and a special addition, the twist comes in the end related to a birthday!

Among the reasons that you find for watching this movie, there will always be Jayasurya, the man who does the role of the main character Sudi/Sudheendhan – he has also co-produced the movie here. There are not many actors who could have done this role with such perfection. As most of you have noticed, here he plays the role of a man with a stammering problem which affects his life. May be the problem could be brought to the screen well, not with such effectiveness as we can see in this movie. He is amazingly good in this flick as the titular character.

Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam is at its best as the inspirational movie because it tells the viewers that all of them can, and it says that idea without any doubt. This inspiration is not radically focused on a certain thing, but on the individuality which is the thing where all the attention happens be. Here, the change begins when accepting oneself as another person and not someone else to whom the comparison is made. Being better or like someone else is never the idea of this movie, and the protagonist himself clearly states that point relating to his life.

For the same reason, the feel-good factor here is stronger than that of many other movies, and in all its simplicity, Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam leaves you with the much needed happy feeling – there is absolutely no negativity around. It is not that easy to spread happiness, but the director Ranjith Sankar has done that without any moments of trouble. It is his success, just as it was for most of his previous movies. As the character itself is safe in the hands of Jayasurya, the feel-good factor works fine along with the inspiration that this movie provides.

So, the special addition to this post is that yesterday, December the thirteenth was the birthday of one of two main actresses in this movie, Swathy Narayanan. Even though she can’t be considered as the heroine of the film with her appearing with the flashback running strong and disappearing along with the first half of the movie, she makes a fine debut here. There are not many better movies to make a debut than a successful inspirational feel-good movie, as such flicks have special place in the minds of the viewers. With the cuteness factor heavily working in favour of her, she does her job very well as expected of her.

An Ayurveda Doctor by profession, she is also a skilled dancer, as we could understand from her appearance during the Lunar’s Comedy Supernite program in Flowers channel. She made that episode a charming one. She has the skills, and so I would like to wish her a happy birthday even though belated, and also wish her all the success in her upcoming projects. She has only bigger heights to achieve in her career. Swathy is the lady in the last poster used in this post. All images you see here are from the Official Facebook Page of the movie and are used to support this particular post about the flick.

Life is a complex thing; for it has too many people, and we forget most of them. The society will brand some people as undeniably #madeofgreat, but we needn’t always agree. We have our choices because the same person might not make that much of an impact in our lives. The one who is #madeofgreat is the kind of person who will leave the lasting impression on us rather than for everyone else. It is not related to what anyone else thinks, but linked with how we see it.

Greatness is measured by many things, but I am going to consider this one right from the heart. Going back in time, there was one person who has been a long time inspiration for me. The story goes right back to the early days of school, that feeling carrying over to the college and it is still there. We don’t always get along, and the differences are many, but the impression was made early and it stayed. Do not inform my sister about this though, because I intend to keep this secret from her not revealing that she is #madeofgreat.

I have always been trailing throughout my life, trying to catch up with her achievements. She always had more trophies and came up first in school while my rank has varied from one to eight with consistency only in being second in the class, which was the more regular position for me. But my mother was never really surprised about it, and she once told me that my sister achieved this much by working hard while what I have achieved is because I am more intelligent, and I trail because I am lazy one with hard work never being my fortress.

I was rather too lazy to climb the mountains. Never really made that effort.

Yes, as I spent my time playing cricket with a little football and wandering around on the bicycle, she worked hard with the studies. Her hard work inspired me a lot, but I was sure that I might work hard, but not that much in the studies. She also participated in dance programs and drama to win prizes while the closest I came in school was to become the fourth swordbearer of a king in a drama, and I worked hard to let everyone know that I was in the school drama.

The twist came when she decided to leave home to become a nun. Nobody really liked that decision, but she was not backing away from it. I wondered when I could make such strong decisions; I actually found it difficult to make the decision to play a slow full-toss on the leg-side or the off-side – my decision making has always been like that. I have never been really sure about things, but this decision taken by her would inspire me to make many strong decisions later, even though there has been nothing this big in my entire life so far.

I used to keep my problems alive until some solution came up; at times, I even celebrated my problems. But she was always someone who found her own solutions to problems and discovered her own path – she was the problem solver of Mathematics while I lived with language and literature; I had declared Mathematics my immortal nemesis and so decided to keep that impression away from my likes. My plans were different, and the ideas get wings whenever the impression made by her grand decision comes to my mind.

The lasting impression of decision making never really ended there, as she became an M.Com graduate, cleared NET, did Phd and works as a lecturer in a reputed government aided college. She went through a clear path, and with the special super power of hard work, made it to the safe side. I delayed it, but did become the post-graduate – her achievements have left the lasting impression, and so maybe I will also get through some of these. My hope has been that delay doesn’t always mean denial, and one day I will also be #madeofgreat.

And here is a question: “What do you think of Tata Motors association with Lionel Messi?”

The darkest day of the month was chosen for accomplishing this. It was the biggest mission that the Vampire Team had undertaken during their long journey together. They had fought the Great Pimple Overlord, the Devil’s Shadow, the Minions of the Lich Queen, Devourers of the Shadows and many more, but none of them could match up to this great objective. This was not just for the Vampire World, but for the whole realm and its existence which rested on one thing, as the Vampire Owl switched on the small dynamo torch.

“This thing is not working. What a ridiculous device. I knew that those human salesmen were lying” said the Vampire Owl which shaking the torch.

“Yes, it won’t work until you charge the dynamo. Start turning that lob to charge it” said the Vampire Bat.

“These are ridiculous inventions from the humans. We could have just borrowed that magic wand from the Potato Witch which could have worked without charge. I will get this one charged. Do it, apprentice” Vampire Owl passed the torch to the Vampire Hamster.

“I have a very strong feeling that this is a flawed plan and bring no positive results. Do you really think that this will work?” asked the Vampire Crocodile.

“Yes, why not? We have entered the projection of Mavis Dracula’s mind so that we can bring the inspiration right from within. This is a special personal mission for Uncle Dracula. We can’t fail in this. We will find a solution right inside her mind so that she will feel better and face her future with better confidence” said the Vampire Bat.

“Wait! I sense evil. My crow sense is triggered” said the Vampire Crow.

“Holy Vampire Lords! Everybody stay calm. It is the dangerous Twilight essence! How did it even get in here?” asked the Vampire Raven.

“Take it! Bring it and put it in the Anti-negativity Orb. We don’t want such things wandering around in her mind. It will weaken her true vampire essence” said the Vampire Bat.

“Done! But where is the inspiration? Where is the source?” asked the Vampire Alligator after taking the Twilight away.

“It had to be somewhere around here according to the sources” wondered the Vampire Owl.

“The Great Vampire Oracle is never wrong; it says so in our text books” said the Vampire Crow.

“But there is no inspiration! We had to awaken it and prepare it to be launched from within. This is real shame” said the Vampire Owl.

“Wait! What is that sound getting stronger? I think that we are being teleported back to reality” said the Vampire Bat.

“And, then we were back without accomplishing anything in particular. Note this small leap for the vampire kind, my dear brethren because we are going to forget this forgettable experience very soon” said the Vampire Owl.

“Oh there you are! Hello, Mavis. How are you today? It is good to see you again” they said in one voice.

“It is good to see you all once again. I am feeling pretty good. But I have heard about what you people were doing. Are you completely out of your mind?” asked Mavis.

“I believe that these people are just twenty eight percent sane, madam. I am at around twenty three percent” said the Vampire Hamster.

“What? Why do you need to wander around inside my mind? Don’t you know that you people are my real inspiration? she asked.

“But it was just a few days ago, that Uncle Dracula had asked for…”

“Forget him. He is too worried about everything, and so are you people. I have enough inspiration inside my mind, and what I need here is you people who are my family” she added.

“See, I had told you that the first time this idea came up” said the Vampire Owl.

“Yes, you told the exact opposite and we were forced into this idea” said the Vampire Bat.

“It is okay, people. I am inspired. There is absolutely no problem at all. You can tell that to my dad and have a special blood feast tonight” she said.

The Vampire Team left the room, and Mavis Dracula wondered about what it really meant to be inspired from within. She knew that all that she needed to be inspired was the family. It was her strength and it was the boost to her soul. Meanwhile, Dracula was sitting on the branch of a tree outside the tree and wondering if what she said was true.

Tara @ Crimson April has been a continuous support to my blog, and The Tea Cerebration(s) with its two biggest super-vampires the Vampire Bat and the Vampire Owl would love to thank her not just for her comments here, but also for the creative ideas which she has been giving through her blog. I consider her blog as a source and exhibition of wonderful creativity. Still, above them all, it would be for that post-card which she sent and became a source of inspiration to write more and more. As she mentions on her blog, there is a creative energy magnet there 🙂

Moon @ Footloose Forever has been another source of inspiration for me. This place has been my favourite nature blog, and she has come up with some wonderful descriptions of places which has left me with a desire to travel a lot. She also has some amazing photos to support her blog posts. My blog, Movies of Soul has also been inspired from the design of her blog, and she has helped me with quite some insight into buying a domain at WordPress and related stuff. I hope to continue receiving the same inspiration 🙂

Purba @ Reverie of Purba has been a constant inspiration for me with her comments, and I have bought and read her book, The Hidden Letters from Amazon; and despite it not being my genre at all, liked it and the characters in it were very interesting. She has also written another book, Walking in the Streets of Love and Destiny; it feels very good to have an author reading your blogs and supporting you, doesn’t it? If you ask me, it surely does. I wish her best of luck for the upcoming works 🙂

Simran @ My Friendship is one of my newer friends in the blogosphere, and you know that good things often happen late, but it is a thing of joy when they do. I have been reading most of her poems, and loved the one called Lost Peace a lot. I have read a good number of her poems and hoping to read a lot more. What surprised me the most was she is a fan of Nazriya Nazim and she has watched a lot of movies/music with Nivin Pauly too – that was more than just surprising; her comment on my Om Shanti Oshana review was a welcome twist 😀

Kokila @ Sunshine n Blue Clouds has been a frequent commenter on my blogs, and is the one who has given me the most comments from Blogspot. I have always wondered how many people will comment on my blog from Blogspot; well, she is the one who does that the most, and has inspired me to comment back on the Blogspot blogs which were not among my priorities as I was stuck with my WordPress community for quite a long time. Along with her wonderful Haiku collection, she also writes awesome book reviews. I hope to continue being inspired from her blog 🙂

Maitreni @ The Style Symphony is the recent winner of the contest “My First Expert” from Godrej and it is amazing victory considering the number of posts and bloggers who were involved in the contest – it was much more than the usual number. The team of her and her mom has provided some of those nice posts at this place. I consider this winning post itself as their best ever My Inexpert Mother; My First Expert Mom! I wish her all the best for her future wins as contests are many and she is writing so well; and also thank her for her frequent visits to my blog.

Deeshani @ Inner Thoughts of a Taciturn made it to my blogger network and vice versa, quite recently. I have loved reading her poetry and among them, I have had special admiration for this poem, Rickshaw Driver. Then, Shades of Glee is another poetic work from her which I have enjoyed a lot. Recently providing me with the Sunshine Award, she has been the inspiration that came late, but was here with some of the best blog posts.

Bindu @ Movie Reviews by Bindu Cherungathis one movie blogger whom I have been very happy about meeting through the blogging universe. Her Om Shanti Oshana review has been my favourite since then. I have also loved to read her views on many other movies including Ormayundo Ee Mukham, Ivide and Premam. Her review on Iyobinte Pusthakam is something which I completely agree on, and it felt extra good to read the opinion there! This paragraph is to the movie love!

I have blogged much more this year, and about seventy percent of the posts on this blog were written and posted this year, that too with half an year still to go. In the 179 days which have passed so far, I have did more than 180 posts. I have only recently got to 250 posts, and a lot of it has come in the last six months or so. From December 10 last year, I had decided to speed up things, and I have made sure that there is no day without a blog post or two.

I was tired with all these by April. March had something special for me with winning the BlogAdda contest “The World Remade” for the India Today Conclave at Delhi. March twelfth, my birthday was spent in three cities, Cochin, Mumbai and Delhi, and the month was a great one. But it came back down in April, and things came down further with nothing happening with my life expect for eating and sleeping. The energy for blogging was slowly disappearing.

The credit for bringing the inspiration back goes to Archana, who blogs at Drishti: The Gaze with her husband Desh, and has provided some of the most interesting ideas on a wide variety of topics. I haven’t seen a better blog with a husband and wife writing together, ever. There is a lot to learn from the blog, and the way in which it goes on with its ideas inspiring and spreading knowledge is worth the applause. She has been on my IB list of bloggers for more time, but we have been friends on Facebook from April.

A lot of people whom I know are not aware of how much I blog and there are people around me who think it is a waste of time. Well, sometimes I think that it is very clear for them that I am wasting my time not just in life, but also with the blogs, as someone has brought to my attention during my recent visit to my ancestral home. The advice is always to stop doing the blogging and do anything else. So, the need for inspiration only increases day by day. It is where Archana has been helpful in the last few months.

What Archana and Desh have been writing about at their blog has been very much thought-provoking, and when it is not doing that job, it is inspiring the other bloggers to write more and more. I have been going a little bit lazy about blogging for some time, especially because at one point, I had extra articles left in my computer to post for the next one week or two. Every time when I seem to go towards the end of my collection, I think about not writing, but Drishti and its frequency of posting has been a big inspiration.

Archana has been among the most frequently commenting bloggers on this blog, and in the last two months only, she has become the one with the third most highest comments on my posts. She is also the only person whose blog is not hosted on WordPress to comment with this high frequency. She has also been always there being among the first people to promote my blog in more than one platform. Now, it is some fine support which does motivate a lot to blog more.

She has also been there to clear those blogging doubts. She was also the one to introduce me to Blogmint, and she has told me that it will be very useful to me in my long blogging run. My favourite post from her is a Haiku, titled Beauty and the Beast, and her Haiku and Short Story Collection has been inspiring me to keep writing. The whole vampire team has acknowledged the same. I have also been inspired by the travel related posts from Desh on the Breath-taking Natural Wonders despite traveling so less these days – I rarely see such clarity on blogs 🙂

I have known only a few people during my early days of WordPress blogging, and even on the day of the third anniversary of Travel Diaries and the first of Movies of the Soul, I had only two as friends. For most of my blogging time, I have had only two people on my friends list in the social networking sites, and the second blogger to be my friends list was Maniparna. I have been reading her posts since early 2014, during those days when she had another theme and a pet blog dog called Gulgul 😀

I have been thinking about getting a pet for a long time, and then I noticed the blog pet – it caught my attention first; then everything else; not many people got a blog pet, and I have seen nobody else with one. That was my strange reason at that time, but there has been a long list of book reviews and haiku which I continued to read as her Scattered Thoughts went on to become one of the very first blogs which I read consistently.

Along with those writing skills, there is also something about her photography that you need to look out for. Even though I have never really tried to write haiku or book reviews with the inspiration from her blog, I have always been inspired by her fiction, and more than that, her supportive comments on my two blogs, Movies of the Soul and The Tea Cerebration(s) . She has more than one hundred and fifty comments on my blog, more than anybody else.

She has commented more than one hundred times on this blog alone, more than double of those who comes second and third, and she has done that so consistently – now that is inspiration to come up with more and more posts. She was also helpful in helping my early doubts with the blogging sites. I have been a very doubtful person in the earlier blogging days, especially when related to BlogAdda and IndiBlogger.

She was also the first one to follow me on Twitter and also the one before everybody else to favourite on of my tweets. Yes, Twitter came very late for me, and my social networking idea was limited to Facebook and Orkut earlier – so needed some help with making an entrance into the world of tweeting. We have also been the runners-up of the Godrej Aer Pan India Blogging Contest, and that was the first contest which I had ever had won any prize for.

She has a long list of contest wins and runner-up trophies as you can see on her blog. For people like me who have a slow internet, her blog is also one of the fastest to load. Her work has inspired me for the last one year and a few months; she deserves to be nominated at WIN 15 and I don’t really need to hope that she nominates her blog in any of those categories there because I know that she already did that and also got her badge 😀 Here is one my favourite Haiku works at her place.

Uncle Dracula has said a quote about immortality which I shall not bring to anybody’s attention. Still, a few things are forever, and even though I shall attribute immortality more to the Team Vampire, there is nothing like a Haiku on a beautiful monsoon day with rain drops creating poetry. Long Live the Haiku Queen! Here is a tribute to the inspirational blogger, and Queen of Haiku! #YouMakeMeWIN

Nominees, it is your turn to answer the questions and award some blogs if you are willing. Answer the above questions in your own blog post and then nominate some of your favorite blogs. You can either make up a new list of questions for your nominees or just use the same.

My time at the Union Christian College was very good, and each of the lecturers at the English Department has played a big role in defining me – it is something that I can never forget. I have already written about my days at the college (https://theteacerebration.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/the-college-days-at-ucc/) which won a contest too, and I might come with a detailed tribute later. But for now, I would like to remember those teachers who defined my earlier days of studies at the school level. My memories about that time period remains less clear, but it is worth a try.

Among my favourite teachers, there are two who helped me with my English. One is Aleyamma teacher who was my all-time favourite teacher – I would give her credit for myself scoring very high in English for my tenth board exams. She was strict with her class, and always hesitated to give marks, and the best one could score for the English paper if it was evaluated by her – it was around eighty two out of hundred and sometimes nobody scored an eighty; not really inspiring the students to choose English as the favourite subject, but her level of teaching and valuation compared to the others was clear when the scores reached near cent percent for the board exams while the students who scored high in the local test papers and examinations got low marks.

Just reminding myself that I used to win some big prizes, even at state level 😀

I have had the opportunity to stand outside the class during her classes, but that only inspired me to work harder – from the way she managed the classes, it was all so clear to me. I tried to read more and make things work better, and I wished she had taught me English for a longer period of time. No longer being in her classes was the biggest miss for me after the tenth standard. Joseph sir who gave me tutions for English also provided the same, and he played a big role in making the English language and grammar interesting. As long as he taught me, I never had any doubt about which subject to study more than the others. But all subjects other than English were made so boring in comparison.

Another love for a subject goes to History, and the credit for that goes to Laila teacher who could come up with least boring History class that I have ever known. She had a special style of saying “Mao Tse-tung” and “Chiang Kai-shek” which made sure that the Chinese Revolution was never forgotten. I remember that I had once topped History for the first time and she was like “what took you so long?”. I could score high for the subject during the board exams too, and I was actually blessed with the certain fact that she was the one who taught me History throughout high school, a memory that I cherish. I don’t even remember seeing her in anger when teaching or dealing with matters of the class.

Then there was Uma teacher, who made the subject of Geography have any value. She also used to teach some English when there was the need, and I did feel that she made her points so clear with the class. If I have something of the subject remaining inside my brain, it is because she make me relate well with that subject which was never among my stronger areas. It is the base for Geography that she had provided, just like that base for History and English which were established. I managed to do fine with the subject for the tenth board exams, and make Social Science look nice in totality.

A portion of the scanned image – favourite teachers are third from left and first from right.

Then there was Martin sir who made an impression for my Plus Two, but the major problem there was that, as a Mathematics teacher, he came too late to make a big impact – there was no love left for me with Maths, and even for the Science subject, the lack of good teachers during the earlier periods of schooling deprived me of any love for those subjects. My favourite subjects were formed due to the presence of some good teachers during the school days, and they were English, History and Geography – those were the three subjects which made me interested due to having the best teachers, the four whom I salute, and my respect for the fifth who tried so hard to make my Maths better, but couldn’t 😀

This blog post is inspired by Sucheta’s writing (https://suchetabiswas.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/we-the-people-and-the-teachers-we-have), and reminds me that I should have carried over the inspiration and knowledge which were provided by these teachers. But unfortunately, I did lose most of it for some time, and could only partially gain a part of it back. It was rather a near-impossible task because of my certain inabilities. ***The images used in this blog post are scanned and cropped photos from my distant past – the schooldays.

Malayalam movie industry had two inspirational movies in the earlier part both the years 2014 and 2015. But the fact remains that Mili hasn’t got the attention that the movie How Old Are You had, and the reason is mostly the presence of Manju Warrier in that movie, as one of the best and the most popular actresses in the industry had returned to the big screen after such a long time. Some people who had an easy path in life won’t be able to digest the problems of Mili either with their lack of empathy and having no consideration for others. But there are a number of reasons why Mili rises and stands much above How Old Are You.

Mili is more realistic: Among the two movies, Mili is the more realistic one, as our heroine remains the same, and she only does what any person can do. But How Old Are You brings too much into the scene, including the Indian President, a huge vegetable garden and the quick change of the protagonist for almost no real reason. There is even a lady who abuses a security personnel for just doing his job – wonder what is the goodness there. Mili is full of goodness, and has had better and more realistic turning points. Mili thrives on its simplicity, and thanks to the same, almost everyone can relate with her.

Mili has a better protagonist: Another advantage of Mili is the presence of a protagonist with which almost everyone can relate. She is someone who had problems since her childhood while How Old Are You has a heroine who was always super and has lived her married life pretending to be what she is not. She had ability and she was a pretender for which she deserves no applause. She had a good government job and still she had chosen to be not her. Mili Nair is not the same, as she could never find herself, and she had actually struggled a lot – had no job, hope or love.

Mili is straight to the point: As How Old Are You deviates from making its point on too many occasions, Mili is always there and never goes behind in making its point. Mili is a voice for the introverts, children as well as for the women. It can also be used for motivation by most of the subaltern, unlike How Old Are You which is limited in its scope and yet tries too many things just because it has a veteran actress playing the major role. Mili is life, and Mili belongs to the heart and soul.

Mili has to succeed for the introverts and those children who were forced to compete and were considered good for nothing just because they couldn’t live up-to the expectations. It is a voice for hope for the future. It will help to raise a better generation of children who are taught to be good instead of being achievers in one way or the other. This better development of a future generation and the youth is the gift of this movie towards the society. It will help the greedy people to realize that money isn’t everything, and it is more about goodness than anything else.

I have been blessed with many relatives who boast about their sons and daughters just because they are studying in a reputed university or are earning so much with their jobs. The sad thing about the same is that they try to degrade the others along with doing the same. They think that everyone else is useless. It is okay to say good things about people, but why would they want to degrade others? Ask Mili Nair, and ask every other kid who has been forced to be someone else and couldn’t. Mili is one of those children who had to suffer due to the third rate demands of the society. Mili is future, and Mili is hope.

About the relatives, it took me about twenty years to get the evil out of my life and somehow manage to get their violent ways away, deciding on my life. They still bother me at times with their boasting, but I know their true colours now. Mili Nair was actually faster – and she did that so well. May be children who watch Mili can plan their lives better and the new age parents can be better guardians as well as friends to their children. Isn’t that a much needed thing in the current world where relationships begin to make no sense?

As William Wordsworth had mentioned in his poem My Heart Leaps Up or The Rainbow, “The Child is father of the Man”, and it is reiterated in this movie – lets understand our children better and not blame them for their lack of skills, which is why Mili is so significant. ***All the images used in this blog post are from the official Facebook page of Mili the movie (https://www.facebook.com/milimovieofficial). Read my full review: (https://moviesofthesoul.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/mili)

This is my 100th post at Tea Cerebrations, and an interesting fact is that this century was attained on the 200th day of this blog – 100 (200) with one post on every two days : Not bad for a test match hundred, right? 😀

I have got my hat-trick extended with the Very Inspiring Award here 😀 And thanks to Namrata (http://namratakumari.blogspot.in) this happened so fast 😉 There are certain special facts about her being the inspirational one for my blogs: 1. She has been commenting on all my blogs for a very long time; 2: She was the first one to comment on this blog; 3: She was the first blogger friend to be on my Facebook friends list. So, Namrata the inspirational blogger has provided me with this inspirational award (http://namratakumari.blogspot.in/2015/01/very-inspiring-blog-award.html) which inspires me and makes me feel like an inspirational blogger 😀 Thank you 🙂

Seven things about me:
1. I feel that working for Romanian tourism will be nice, especially concentrating on a castle 😀
2. My favourite among the sweet ones are white chocolate and milk peda.
3. The only vouchers I have ever known are from Flipkart.
4. The only district in Kerala where I have not gone on a trip is Kasargod (have just traveled through).
5. I seem to think more than The Thinker 😉
6. I doubt what is easier in this modern world; me getting a job or finding goodness in people.
7. I strongly believe that Vikram is the greatest actor India has ever produced.

The rules:
1. Display the award logo
2. Link back to the person who nominated you
3. State 7 things about yourself
4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them.

The seven things about me:
1. I believe that I am living in the wrong time period and require a time machine.
2. I don’t feel that the end of the world is a bad thing, because there is equality in death.
3. I support Asterix for the President of Earth 😀
4. I affirm Honda’s superiority in engine 😀
5. I have bad teeth, and even had awesome root canal.
6. My favourite ice cream is of Blackcurrant flavour, followed by Orange and Pineapple.
7. I hope that one day, I will be the old gamer again 😉

Hoping that this kind of awards are a nice start, I have kept a page separate for the same, which can be accessed from the top bar of the blog 😀 (https://theteacerebration.wordpress.com/blog-awards/). Shweta has some inspiring stuff at her blog too, where I am a regular reader.

The Very inspiring Blogger Award rules:

Display the award on your blog

Link back to the person who nominated you

State 7 things about yourself

Nominate 15 bloggers and link to them

Seven things about myself:

1. I support Sanju Samson as the next wicket keeper of the Indian Cricket Team.
2. I wish to visit the four Italian cities Rome, Venice, Florence and Milan as soon as possible 😀
3. The farthest I have traveled is to Glasgow, Scotland.
4. Among the non-Keralite cities to which I have traveled in India, I love Kolkata the most.
5. I don’t like my chances of getting a job.
6. I believe that I am going to get hit by a reckless driver when on road, sooner or later.
7. I have discovered many reasons to be a pessimist 😀

This is something that I thought I should share on another day which would be considered more as the day of bigger relevance, but I don’t see any reason why I should delay this. To be frank, I think that I should have posted this one a long time ago. The one below is a poem which I had written on the demise of Jean Mathew, one of the earliest elderly brother figures I ever had; and to think more about it, I can’t remember any other. We had lost him to brain tumour on the third of March 2013.

He should be the most hardworking person I have ever known. Even at the worst of times, he was known for his faith, belief and hope, with a courage to face whatever comes next. He was active at http://jeanmathew.blogspot.in/ and http://photoshealingwords.blogspot.in/ during the toughest of times. The poem below has been shared before in his memories collected in a book form, but never online, and so I thought I would share this here too. This is no In Memoriam, Thyrsis, Adonais or Lycidas, but just what I could come up with at that time. May be I can come up with something better on another day.

The memories go back to the 1990s
It was to Malampuzha that our first big trip
Happened like never before, with bliss
And I stood there with Jean chettan in front of
A structure which was India’s map in grass
And there was our first photo taken together.

One of our earliest photos, scanned from the old collection of memories.

And just in a few years, during that sojourn
At Palai, among the first few computer games
Which I ever knew, one of them named Paperboy
Along with some random Tetris and Racing stuff
And then at Vagamon, still one of our best photos
With the wind, Jean chettan and myself.

And that is not everything about photos though
As he captured the best moments of the world
Freezing time and space for us all to behold
And each snap by Jean chettan brought thoughts
With Bible verses gracefully attached to them
Those lambent snaps added further sunshine.

Cropped from his photo collections with inspirational Bible Versions.

I still remember how much of hardwork
Jean chettan put into everything he did
And whenever I see any photo of those
Which were fallen autumn leaves or that
Which fell from the sky as pure white snow
I feel the radiance of what he captured.

Even as I shall never be able to show the same
Undisputed courage and strength in adversity
Or be that much hardworking as Jean chettan ever
His self-evident faith and optimism has done
A lot and has given strength to more than one soul
And left me further vivified in my own beliefs.